For the first time in almost three years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 12,000. The two main factors contributing to the increase were U.S. President Barack Obama’s optimistic State of the Union address yesterday, and the central bank’s decision to continue stimulating the economy.

The index climbed about 0.1% to reach a high of 12,013 this morning, but in mid-afternoon trading, the figure had dropped to 11,985.

Another contributor to the rising Dow was the new-home sales statistics released today, which showed a 17.5% increase from November 2010 to December 2010.

Prior to today, the last time the index was above 12,000 was in July 2008.